Infants and other incontinent individuals wear disposable absorbent articles such as diapers to receive and contain urine and other body exudates. Absorbent articles function both to contain the discharged materials and to isolate these materials from the body of the wearer and from the wearer's garments and bed clothing. Disposable absorbent articles having many different basic designs are known to the art. It is also known that the exterior of disposable diapers can be covered with a flexible, liquid and vapor impervious sheet to prevent any absorbed liquid from passing through the diaper and soiling adjacent articles such as clothing, bedding and the like. These outer covers, generally referred to as backsheets, are often constructed from fluid impervious films such as polyethylene. Although such backsheets do prevent liquid from passing through the diaper, they also can make the diaper feel hot and uncomfortable to wear because of their impermeability to air and/or moisture.
Backsheets which are pervious to vapor are generally known as breathable backsheets and have been described in the art. In general, these backsheets are intended to allow the passage of vapor through them while retarding the passage of liquid. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,242 issued to Crowe, Jr. on Nov. 10, 1964 teaches the use of a microporous film as a breathable backsheet. U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,489, issued to Hartwell on May 6, 1975, teaches a breathable backsheet comprising in combination two layers, the first of which is a low void volume perforated thermoplastic film and the second of which is a porous high void volume hydrophobic tissue. U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,867 issued to Sisson on Nov. 2, 1976 teaches a breathable backsheet provided with tapered hollowed bosses which prevent the passage of liquids while allowing vapors to pass readily therethrough.
While these backsheets do provide improvements over the impermeable backsheets of the prior art, they can be relatively expensive and/or difficult to manufacture, especially at high speeds. Often, numerous layers of materials or coatings are needed to provide breathable backsheets capable of containing liquids that may be absorbed by the diaper. Further, in some cases, the breathable backsheets may not effectively contain liquid, especially when the diaper is subjected to the normal forces created by the movements of the wearer.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disposable absorbent article having good containment characteristics while having breathable side panels to ensure comfort for the wearer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a disposable absorbent article having a backsheet comprising apertured and non-apertured zones, the non-apertured zone juxtaposed the absorbent core and the apertured zone(s) extending outwardly from the non-apertured zone to form at least a portion of the side panel(s) of the disposable absorbent article.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a disposable absorbent article having a backsheet comprising apertured and non-apertured zones, wherein the backsheet further comprises a vapor pervious and/or liquid pervious nonwoven web which provides the garment-facing surface of the backsheet a cloth-like feel.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a disposable absorbent article having good containment and breathability characteristics that is economical and easy to manufacture at high speeds.